The Gunners have submitted an offer for the Spaniard, and are now said to be waiting to hear beck from the Catalan giants.

Both Manchester United and Serie A giants Inter Milan were thought to be keen on landing his signature this summer, but sources in Spain claim that they were not able to successfully lodge bids to stay in the running.

Barcelona are under pressure to accept an offer for the 27-year-old so that they don’t miss out on some sort of fee and lose him for nothing when his contract expires next term.

Considering he has bagged 98 goals in 316 appearances for the club, they are remarkably blasé about letting him move on.

But he has found himself out of the side regularly this term, and wants to move on in order to secure more regular first team football for himself.